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HPV Vaccine May Protect You, Even If You Don't Get The Shot

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A new study suggests that "herd immunity" -- the idea that once enough people in a population get vaccinated, the protective benefits extend to those who can't or won't -- may help decrease rates of human papillomavirus.

The HPV vaccine doesn't just help prevent infection among women who get the shot. It may also protect those who don't.

A new study suggests that "herd immunity" -- the idea that once enough people in a population get vaccinated, the protective benefits extend to those who can't or won't -- may help decrease rates of human papillomavirus, the most common sexually transmitted infection in the U.S. The virus affects more than half of sexually active people at some point in their lives.

"Rates of HPV fell by about 50 percent, even in the unvaccinated," said researcher Dr. Jessica Kahn, of the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. "That surprised us. We didn't expect that significant a change."

Kahn's research, published in the journal Pediatrics, involved recruiting two groups of approximately 400 women from ages 13 to 26 from two community clinics in Ohio, all of whom reported genital-to-oral or genital-to-genital contact with a male or female partner. Some 60 percent of the women received at least one dose of the HPV vaccine, which protects against many types of the virus, but not all.